3 Butterfly Fun Art Projects for Kids

by Tania Cowling on January 29, 2015

Tania Cowling

About the Author

Tania Cowling is a mom of three and grandmother of two toddlers. She has been through all phases of motherhood and would love to share experiences and tips. Tania has authored three early childhood books and freelances with regional parenting magazines and on the Internet.

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

Creating butterflies are fun art project for kids — I remember how my boys loved everything that had to do with nature, including bugs and butterflies. When we took our afternoon walks, we would always have to stop to look at these colorful creatures that fluttered by.

Not only as a parent but also an early childhood teacher, I found that studying butterflies was a fun theme in our home and made for fun art projects for kids — starting with reading stories, like The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, to nonfiction books about chrysalises — where caterpillars make their change into beautiful butterflies. Our learning journey took us to the fun part of crafting butterflies with a variety of art mediums.

Stained glass butterfly. For this craft, take a sheet of black construction paper and fold it in half lengthwise. Trace a large "B" shape with the bug's backbone on the fold. Cut out the shape and also four windows (two on each side) as the design center of its wings. Open the shape and have your little one help you place it down onto the self-adhesive paper. Think of some sparkly and interesting things to place inside the wing windows — like sequins, butterfly-shaped confetti (found in craft stores), and even dots punched out from colorful paper (using a hole punch). After decorating each wing window, place a second sheet of self-adhesive paper over the butterfly and trim around the shape. To complete the project, punch a hole at the top of the body and thread pipe cleaner and twist to make the antennae.

Blot Butterfly. Using the same technique as above, cut out a butterfly shape from a light shade of construction paper (without the windows in the wings). Invite your little artist to use a dropper or paintbrush and add dollops of paint on one open side of this folded butterfly shape. Fold over the paper and let him rub gently on the paper. Open up the butterfly to see beautiful patterns that repeat on both sides.

Foot butterfly. Making a foot butterfly is a fun way to remember how small your darling's foot was at one time. You can trace her bare foot or shoes for the butterfly's wings — one on each side of the insect's body (draw freehand). Let her color the wings with crayons or washable markers. Finally, use a black marker to add antennae and don't forget to write the date!

Our favorite fun art projects for kids in this article are only a few of the many butterfly crafts you can create. Check online and in craft books for ideas with clothespins, coffee filters, tissue paper, and other enhancement materials to make these fine critters.

What are your favorite fun art projects for kids? Share below in the comments section!

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